Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Belated Winter Meetings Wrap-Up

Sorry about not posting in the past week. I’ve had finals taking up my time. At any rate, we got through the Winter Meetings without anything disastrous happening. The only thing rumor to have come out of the meetings that concerns me somewhat is the Tigers’ supposed interest in Tom Gorzelanny. Now, there were rumors of the Tigers expressing interest in Josh Willingham, Fred Lewis, and another trade candidate outfielder whose name escapes me right now (and it’s driving me nuts that I can’t remember who it was), but all those struck me as nothing more than due diligence. I just have a feeling that the Gorzelanny rumor has legs, even though we haven’t heard anything further about it (Remember, the Tigers tend to be one of the most stealthy teams when it comes to moves). You’ve already had my take on starting pitchers, so I’ll not rehash it here. If the Tigers were to get another starter, he’d better be a star that would clearly put them over the top. Gorzelanny does not fit that description. I’m not saying he’s a terrible pitcher (though one does have to take into consideration that he’s spent his whole career in the National League), but he wouldn’t be much of an upgrade (if any) over what is in place already. And the same goes for just about every other starter on the trade and free agent market with the exception of a few that the Tigers don’t figure to be in on at this time. However, things turn and happen quickly with this team. Dave Dombrowski loves to keep bloggers on their toes. For all I know Zack Greinke will be in an Olde English D by dinner tonight (which I may not feel happy about personally, but I can’t argue against professionally).

Moving on from starting pitching to the outfield, there’s not a lot of news on the Magglio Ordoñez front. Both Jayson Werth and Carl Crawford signed ridiculous contracts, which means Maggs is probably the top outfielder left on the market (It’s getting to the point where the Tigers might have been better served picking up the option of his old contract). Now, all the rumors and quotes attributed to Magglio himself suggests that the Tigers are still his first choice, as I haven’t heard of him talking about any other team, but Scott Boras is sure to make things more complicated. It would not surprise me at all if he tried to get the Angels interested (after all, the Angels were considered the big losers in the Crawford sweepstakes). The Rangers were considering him as a plan B in case they didn’t sign Vladimir Guerrero, and at one point I heard that the Phillies were interested, though signing Cliff Lee probably takes them out of it (as a side note, I’m already dreading the onslaught of “OMG! The Phillies have the best rotation EVER” articles that are sure to come). MLB Trade Rumors keeps trying to match him up with the Blue Jays, but I haven’t seen anything beyond opinion that the Blue Jays “should” be interested. The common belief is that now that Cliff Lee has signed, the other top free agents should begin to topple like dominos (as another side note, if that’s the case, he picked a bad week to sign; I’m really busy this week). But stay tuned.

Finally, I have a couple minor notes from this week: First, at the Winter Meetings, the Tigers signed catcher Omir Santos, pitcher Chris Oxspring, and shortstop Argenis Diaz to minor league deals (I think all are expected to be in Toledo when the season starts). Second, Ignacio Serrano of ESPN Deportes reports that the Tigers have refused permission for Armando Galarraga to pitch in Venezeula this winter (link is in Spanish). So to recap, Galarraga doesn’t have permission, Guillen is still rehabbing, Magglio has said he wouldn’t (though his team is trying to get him to play during the round robin), and I don’t know what Victor Martinez is doing. That leaves Miguel Cabrera, who left the door open the last time I saw a quote from him, but I can’t imagine he will unless his team is in a playoff chase (and admittedly, I haven’t looked at the Venezuelan league standings recently). Finally, the Tigers announced today that they have released Alfredo Figaro so that he can go pitch in Japan for the Orix Buffalos (for some reason, I thought they were the Orix Blue Wave, but I don’t pay that close attention to NPB so I guess I deserved that). You should know me well enough by now to know that I have absolutely no problem with this. Plus, I know just what they can do with that open roster spot…